Local

A Long Overdue Honor

Posted on July 3, 2013 by Alex Degman

Four days after he graduated from Lincoln High School in Edwardsville in 1944, DeLoyce McMurray joined the Marines, which were segregated. Sixty-nine years later, his country said, “Thank you.” McMurray belonged to the “Monteford Marines”, an all-black unit.

McMurray says “I accept this medal of all of them, for all of those guys who are gone.”

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin arranged for the Congressional Gold Medal to be presented to the Springfield veteran who was unable to attend a ceremony last year in Washington, DC.